Thursday, January 05, 2023

01/05 Links Pt1: Why Palestinians Want to Slaughter Jewish Worshippers; Iran reveals death of Qasem Soleimani was major blow to anti-Israel forces

From Ian:

Why Palestinians Want to Slaughter Jewish Worshippers
The Palestinian Authority, which is in charge of security in Nablus, has -- despite official agreements in the Oslo Accords -- nevertheless refused to fulfill its commitment to protect and ensure free access to Joseph's Tomb.

So far, no one has called out the Palestinian Authority for its grave violations of the international commitments signed with Israel ensuring free access to, and the protection of, all holy sites.

Encouraged by the silence of the international community, the Palestinian Authority has been trying to prevent Jews from visiting another holy site, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem... which is abutted by the Western Wall.... This wall happens to be the holiest site in Judaism where Jews are permitted to pray.

Instead of denouncing Abbas for his incitement and the Palestinians for their denial of Jewish links to the holy site, the United Nations General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that disavowed Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.

Without the presence of the Israeli security forces in Jerusalem, Jews would have been attacked and slaughtered every day on their way to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

If the city or these sites were ever to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, Jewish worshippers would have to visit their holy sites in bullet-proof vehicles accompanied by platoons of soldiers and police officers, as is necessary these days at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.

The Biden administration and the rest of the international community would do well to wake up to the fact that the Palestinian state they are clamoring for means the continued slaughter of Jews and the denial of their safe access to Jewish holy sites.

Tolerance and freedom of worship are not terms that can be found in the Palestinian lexicon. The Palestinians will be satisfied only when they replace Israel with an Iranian-backed terror state and erase all traces of Jewish history and faith.
Fight over Jerusalem's Temple Mount holy site: Why is it so important to Jews, Muslims and Christians?
Jordan blasted "in the severest terms the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the violation of its sanctity." The Jordanian Foreign Ministry in Amman summoned the Israeli ambassador Eitan Sorkis, who got a dressing down from the Hashemite Kingdom.

It is unclear what Jordan meant by the "storming" of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Ben-Gvir did not enter the mosque and his presence on the compound went without friction.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital that Jordan is, "The last country on earth to lecture Israel. Jordan destroyed Jewish life in the Old City in 1948."

Jordan controlled the Old City in Jerusalem from 1948 until 1967. Cooper noted that Jordan "barred Jews for 19 years from praying at the Western Wall" and "it is the height of hypocrisy," for Jordan to lash out at Israel.

The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, which was designated a foreign terrorist entity by the U.S. and European Union and rules the Gaza Strip, warned the "continuation of this behavior will bring all parties closer to a big clash." Hamas threatened a "religious war" against Israel in September 2022, after Jewish activists visited the Temple Mount.

Rabbi Yishai Fleisher, an advisor to Ben-Gvir, told Fox News Digital, "Freedom to pray at one's holy sites is a basic human right - and that is why Minister Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount today. The fact that Jews are barred from praying or condemned for ascending is racist and discriminatory. This government has shown today that it will not be held hostage to terrorist threats - and will promote the values of religious freedom and freedom of expression for all."

The Israeli organization Beyadenu documented the number of visits in 2022 as 51,483 Jews to the site. Beyadenu said in 2021 that 34,651 Jews visited the Temple Mount.

"There should be no discrimination against Jews visiting the Temple Mount. At the end of the day, visits are not mass prayers anyway, so it cannot be argued that they harm the status quo," Matan Peleg, the CEO of Im Tirtzu, told Fox News Digital.

Peleg said that "After 150 years of conflict, it is time for the Arabs to show some maturity and responsibility and stop their racist incitement, which historically has only hurt them."
Morton Klein: The Biden administration sides with discrimination on the Temple Mount
It is a fundamental American principle that religious and racial discrimination is impermissible, unacceptable and unjust. We Americans do not let threats of violence stop us from changing a discriminatory “status quo.”

Thus, threats from the Ku Klux Klan and other bigots did not stop the U.S. government from ending the longstanding “status quo” of segregated schools, “whites only” drinking fountains and practices that prevented Jews and blacks from living in many neighborhoods.

Instead, we stood up to the racist black-hating terrorists. For example, when nine black children were prevented from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, then-President Dwight Eisenhower sent 1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers to ensure that the students could attend school.

But today, the Biden administration is arrogantly demanding that Israel maintain an antisemitic, racist, discriminatory and unjust “Muslims only” status quo on the Jewish people’s holiest site—the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Mount is the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples, which stood for approximately 1,000 years, long before Islam was invented and long before Muslims built mosques on the site.

King Solomon built the First Temple as a place where all people were welcome to pray. Israel’s 1967 Protection of Holy Places Law followed in his footsteps, ensuring free access to all holy sites. But now, Jews and other non-Muslims are denied the right to openly pray on the Temple Mount or even bring prayer books with them. Visiting hours for non-Muslims are severely restricted. Non-Muslims can only enter the site through one of 12 gates, while Muslims can use all the gates. Jews are not permitted to drink from the water fountain on the Mount because some Jew-hating Muslims consider Jews “unclean.” Sound familiar? Jews are not even permitted to silently mouth a prayer.

Meanwhile, Muslims have shown their “respect” for the site and the “status quo” by playing soccer games on the Mount; storing rocks, firebombs and weapons in the Al-Aqsa mosque; destroying literally tons of priceless Jewish antiquities and archeological materials from the Mount; harassing and attacking Jews who visit the site; converting a Second Temple-period structure into a new mosque; hurling rocks at Jews praying at the Western Wall below; and inciting anti-Jewish violence by broadcasting blood libels that Jews are “storming” and “destroying the sanctity” of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Instead of opposing this unacceptable antisemitic discrimination, the Biden administration is wrongly condemning Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir for briefly touring the periphery of the Jewish people’s holiest site.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides arrogantly stated, “To be very clear—we want to preserve the status quo and actions that prevent that are unacceptable. We have been very clear in our conversations with the Israeli government on this issue.” Nides said this even though Ben-Gvir’s visit did nothing to change the Mount’s so-called “status quo.”

Similarly, during the U.S. State Department’s Jan. 3 briefing, State Department Spokesman Ned Price said, “We oppose any unilateral actions that undercut the historic status quo. They are unacceptable. …. This visit has the potential to exacerbate tensions and to provoke violence.” This assertion that a mere visit by a Jew to the Jewish people’s holiest site can “provoke violence” is akin to accusing Rosa Parks of “provoking violence” by not sitting in the back of a bus.


Misconceptions about the Temple Mount in Jewish and Israeli law
A recent article penned by Rabbi Avi Shafran at Religious News Service contains errors of fact and interpretation regarding prayer on the Temple Mount that we find disturbing or at least inaccurate.

In particular, Rabbi Shafran writes that according to “Israeli law, non-Muslims may go up to the Temple Mount to visit, but not to pray or conduct rites.”

There is no such law. Jews are free to pray on the Temple Mount per Israeli Civil Law, upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court. The Court does allow the Israel Police to limit freedom to worship if it might cause a “disturbance of public order” but, in practice, Jews are free to pray quietly and use a prayer book on their smartphones.

Rabbi Shafran claims that “religious reasons” for prohibiting prayer on the Mount are “complex.” He states, “To enter such a holy place, Jewish law requires any Jewish man or woman who has had contact with or been under the same roof as a deceased person to undergo a purification ritual that involves, among other things, a perfectly red heifer that has never been worked in any way.”

This is inaccurate. Most of the Temple Mount complex does indeed have a purification procedure that is required before entry, but it is not the procedure that requires the ashes of the red heifer.

This is because there are two separate areas on the Mount. The more stringent procedure is required for the holiest area—the Shechina Camp—which is slightly less than 15% of the site. The less onerous purification is required for the Levitical Camp, which is the remaining 85%. This procedure requires only immersion in a ritual bath. These laws are universally accepted and clearly laid out in Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah.

Rabbi Shafran further states, “Lately, Jewish nationalists bent on affirming the Jewish connection to the Mount have increasingly visited the site, some trying to skirt the prohibition on non-Muslim prayer. In 2021, visits to the site by Jews, including Knesset members, exceeded 30,000.”

Rabbi Shafran’s numbers are inaccurate. During the Jewish year of 5782, over 50,000 Jews ascended the Mount and prayed there, and this pales in comparison to the number of non-Muslims who ascended as tourists or to stand in solidarity with Jews at our most holy site.

This, Rabbi Shafran says, is “a provocation without a justification” and “a gift to Muslim extremists the world over who loathe Israel and search for anything they can portray as insulting.”

Where and who are these extremists? The highly regarded Muslim activist Noor Dhari, for example, supports Jewish prayer on the Mount and has stated that opposition to it is a political stance exclusive to eastern Jerusalem, Gaza and Jordan, rather than Islam itself.
Jonathan Tobin: Is Israel really threatened by Ben-Gvir’s Temple Mount gambit?
The question of protecting the mosques on the Temple Mount from a mythical Jewish threat is a very sensitive topic for them. Allaying such concerns was a principal element of the American and Israeli diplomacy that led to the Abraham Accords.

Seen from that perspective, Ben-Gvir’s Temple Mount walkabout was an act of shocking irresponsibility that, at best, created an unnecessary distraction, and, at worst, sabotaged Netanyahu’s initiative, which is vital to further securing Israel’s future as a regional player with genuine Arab allies. It also torpedoed Ben-Gvir’s quest to be seen as more than just the leader of an extreme faction, and to leave behind his past as a supporter of Rabbi Meir Kahane.

There is, however, another precedent here. In the fall of 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon took his own Temple Mount walk, which many still believe sparked the Second Intifada. The truth is, however, that PLO chief Yasser Arafat, by that time the head of the P.A., had planned that terrorist war of attrition long before Sharon’s excursion, as a response to Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s failed effort to buy peace with the surrender of most of Judea and Samaria and a share of Jerusalem that the veteran Palestinian killer had turned down.

Sharon would defeat Barak and be elected prime minister only months later. Though his victory was the result of his rival’s folly, Sharon’s assertion of Jewish rights resonated with many Israelis, both religious and secular, who rightly resent the way Jews are discriminated against in their holiest place.

The problem with tiptoeing around Muslim sensibilities about the Temple Mount is that though it makes sense to avoid unnecessary trouble, keeping Jews out and refusing them equal rights to prayer there reinforces the Palestinian narrative denying the validity of Jewish history and Jewish rights to any part of Jerusalem and the country as a whole.

Trusting a man with a record as a professional provocateur like Ben-Gvir with the job of navigating through the diplomatic minefield that the Mount represents was a political necessity for Netanyahu. He probably already regrets it, since the minister is unwilling to do as he’s told.

Yet Ben-Gvir isn’t wrong to want to send a message to the Palestinians that their denial of Jewish history won’t be tolerated. Even if this wasn’t the moment that Netanyahu would have chosen for it, calling the terrorists’ bluff is also a security imperative.

There must be zero tolerance for terrorism of any kind, no matter whether it takes the form of Hamas missiles or P.A.-fomented “lone wolf” attacks on Jews, regardless of the excuse cited by Israel’s detractors.

In the long run, establishing that no one can invalidate Jewish rights on the Temple Mount sends the message to the Arab and Islamic world that Israel is here to stay and that Palestinian fantasies of its destruction must be rejected. Seen from that perspective, Ben-Gvir may still be deemed reckless, but his stunt might do far more good than harm.
Palestinian envoy calls Temple Mount visit 'attack' ahead of special UN meeting
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday at the request of the Palestinians and other Islamic and non-Islamic nations to protest the visit of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Temple Mount on Tuesday.

Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary, drew fierce condemnation from across the Muslim world, a strong rebuke from the United States, and fueled fears of unrest as Palestinian terrorist groups threatened to act in response.

The Palestinian UN ambassador, Riyad Mansour, told reporters Wednesday after meetings with Arab ambassadors, representatives of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the 120-member Nonaligned Movement, and others that there is not only widespread condemnation of Ben-Gvir's visit but also of the broader "environment of extremism" surrounding the most extremist government in Israel's history.

He accused Israel of committing "aggression" not only against Muslim holy sites including the Al Aqsa Mosque but against Christian sites including graveyards. The site is the holiest site in Judaism, home to ancient biblical temples. Today, it houses the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. Describing the Temple Mount as "the most important place for the Jewish people," Ben-Gvir decried what he called "racist discrimination" against Jewish visits to the site.

With the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic shrine, in the background and waving his fingers at the camera, he said the visits would continue. As for threats from Gaza's Hamas, Ben-Gvir, known for his anti-Arab rhetoric and provocative stunts, said in a video clip taken during the visit: "The Israeli government won't surrender to a murderous organization, to a vile terrorist organization."

Mansour, flanked by ambassadors from about 20 countries, said that at Thursday's emergency Security Council meeting, also supported by the United Arab Emirates, China, France, and Malta, "we will not be satisfied with beautiful statements which will be uttered. We want them to be implemented in a concrete way. We want this behavior not to be repeated on Al-Aqsa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif. And we want a guarantee of honoring and respecting the historic status quo in deeds, not only in words."


UN Security Council to discuss Ben-Gvir's visit to Temple Mount

Former Israeli envoy to UN slams Security Council meeting on Temple Mount

Yishai Fleisher on BBC Defends Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir & Jewish Rights on the Temple Mount
Yishai Fleisher talks to BBC World Service news on January 4, 2023 about the visit of Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.




Telegraph report on minister's Temple Mount visit riddled with distortions
The headline of a Telegraph article on Tuesday referred to an Israeli "minister's mosque visit." Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir did not visit the mosque, but only the greater al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, known to Jews (and most visitors) as the Temple Mount.

The article includes the following: "When Ariel Sharon paid a controversial visit to the revered site as opposition leader in 2000, it led to outbreaks of violence and protests which then spiraled into the Second Intifada, a mass Palestinian uprising against Israel." Yet Palestinian leaders have since admitted that Sharon's visit was only a pretext for preplanned violence.

Blaming Sharon's brief visit to the Mount for thousands of subsequent Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, over the span of five years, is a colossal analytical error. It erases Palestinian agency from the equation: implying that terrorists, and the PA leaders who facilitated their attacks, had no choice but to respond violently to Sharon's visit.

The article quoted "the Kingdom of Jordan which said it 'condemns in the severest of terms the storming of the Aqsa mosque and violating its sanctity.'" The "Jews storming the mosque" lie is frequently peddled in the Arab world to describe any peaceful visit of Jews to the Temple Mount - a narrative which is often designed to incite Palestinian violence.


Israel, India Foreign Ministers Talk ‘Strategic Partnership’
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke with his Indian counterpart on Thursday, during which the two spoke of the “strategic partnership” between their countries and how to deepen it.

Indian Highness Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar called Cohen to congratulate him on his appointment as Israel’s newest foreign minister. The ministers discussed the importance of their relations, which they called a “strategic partnership,” and the ways to strengthen them through the promotion of a free trade agreement between the countries and projects in the field of innovation, food, and water security.

Israel is still in negotiations to reach a free trade deal with India, which was among the Jewish state’s leading export destinations in 2022. Other major commitments between the states include building a 10-year defense collaboration plan and trilateral economic cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.

The two further discussed events to mark the 30th anniversary of relations between the two countries, which took place in 2022, and the cooperation between Israel, India, the UAE, and the United States.
The Prospects of Normalization between Sudan and Israel
While Sudan has joined the Abraham Accords, normalization between Khartoum and Jerusalem is frozen and awaits a final push from both sides.

The toppling of the regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (who was overthrown in 2019 by the army), along with Sudan's striving towards a vibrant democracy, has contributed in mitigating hostile Iranian influence. With the transformation of the Sudanese regime, the Red Sea, with the exception of the Yemeni shores, has become more secure, and has augmented Israel's capacity to monitor malevolent activities from Iran and Iranian proxies in the region.

Normalization with Sudan will encourage the rest of the Arab world and some adjacent countries - specifically, Djibouti, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia - to formalize their relations with Israel, thus creating a formidable shield against Iranian penetration of this part of the globe.
Qatar fund leads investment in Israeli-US cyber unicorn
Israeli-led cybersecurity unicorn Snyk has announced the closing of a $196.5 million Series G investment.

In addition to the extraordinary amount of funding — rare anytime and especially during an economic downturn — there are two highly unusual aspects of this investment news.

First, Snyk laid off 198 employees in October, 14 percent of its workforce, after laying off 30 in the summer.

CEO Peter McKay explained at the time that although Snyk’s business is growing fast, with over 2,300 customers, “we now must operate even more efficiently in order for Snyk to effectively withstand the continued headwinds facing the global economy.”

The second unusual aspect: The current investment round was led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of a Gulf country with which Israel has no diplomatic relations.

“QIA is delighted to lead this round to drive the further growth of Snyk, the established leader in developer security,” said Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA.
Oman, once thought to be next Abraham Accords signer, criminalizes relations with Israel
Sultan Qaboos, who was the longest reigning ruler of the Middle East’s oldest independent state, died in 2020 with no heirs. Rulership passed to his cousin Haitham Bin Tariq.

Though Sultan Haitham, upon his inauguration, announced that he would follow in his predecessor’s peace-making footsteps, he has moved closer to Iran, which funds military activity throughout the region.

While Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for Israeli flights earlier this year, Oman has held out on opening its own, blocking the most direct route for some flights from Israel to Asia. In doing so, Oman has received pressure from President Joe Biden’s administration to open its skies.

However, the developments Al-Harithi is referring to in his statement could include the rise of Israel’s new right-wing government, which has already provoked anger well beyond the Middle East. “What also potentially fuels this is a recent call by a number of Arab countries, including the UAE, to go to the United Nations and condemn Israel over the recent rise of [Itamar] Ben-Gvir,” Nir Boms, the director of the Program for Regional Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Protesting Israel “remains one of the few unifying factors in the Arab world,” Boms said.

For more Islamist-leaning factions across the region, “The issues around Israel are coming to a point where they need to have a counter-reaction and come back to a boycott policy,” he added.

Another reason may be fear of Iran, which is conducting military exercises off of Oman’s coast and is reeling from months of domestic protest.

“The last thing Muscat wants is for the Gulf to become a battlefield with attacks on western shipping, resulting in the closure of the Straits of Hormuz,” said Tom Gross, a British journalist and Middle East expert. “Oman, like Qatar, is trying to calm Iran. Their message is: ‘We are not the ones rushing to form relations with Israel so don’t take it out on us.’”

Despite the bill, Gross thinks that Omani relations with Israel will continue as they always have, under the table.

“The Omani vote was primarily designed to appease the Iranian regime. There is a feeling in intelligence circles that the counter-revolutionary uprising in Iran has passed the point of no return and as a result the regime in Tehran may try to externalize its domestic problems,” Gross said. “Meanwhile, relations with Israel will likely continue, albeit more quietly.”


Lapid plans US trip to rally Jewish groups against Netanyahu
Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid is expected to visit the U.S. to mobilize the Jewish community against the Netanyahu-led government.

Lapid came in for condemnation from government members following the reports that he will try to enlist U.S. groups in his domestic political battles.

Lapid already has been accused of crossing a red line when it comes to the stridency of his opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, having called on local authorities to flout the government’s directives in connection with the appointment of a far-right Knesset member to a department at the Ministry of Education.

Netanyahu then accused Lapid for “attempting to incite rebellion among army officers and mayors against the elected government under our leadership.”

“I call on the opposition to behave responsibly. We have one country, one army and one people. We must not harm them,” Netanyahu tweeted on Dec. 2.

Lapid dismissed Netanyahu’s criticism, saying, “If you think what I’ve been saying the last few days is rebellious, I have news for you, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
UK Jewish charities blacklisted by Israeli far right
A far-right party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government has placed leading Jewish charities on a “blacklist” accusing them of secretly planning to infect Israel’s education system with liberal values.

The blacklist, drawn up by the ultra-conservative party Noam, also claims the UK and US governments are part of the plot.

Among the organisations named is Yad Hanadiv, the widely respected charity founded by the Rothschild family and formerly chaired by British investment banker Lord Jacob Rothschild; and the New Israel Fund, an international philanthropic body which has raised more than £30 million for educational, human rights and other projects in Israel.

Others on the list include the US-based Mandel Foundation, which has given many millions to support Jewish education and culture, and the Shalom Hartman Institute, a leading sponsor of Jewish education and thought in both Israel and America.

The blacklist was first drawn up in 2019 when Noam’s leader, Avi Maoz, was little known outside Israel.

But he has now been appointed Deputy Minister of Education in the new government and is to head a department based in the Prime Minister’s Office to be called the “National Authority for National-Jewish Identity”.
Israel to build wall along Gaza border highway to foil anti-tank missile attacks
The Transportation Ministry, Defense Ministry, and military engineering units are set to begin construction on a wall along a main highway and another route near the border with the Gaza Strip, to obscure potential targets from anti-tank missiles fired by terror groups.

On Wednesday, officials held a ceremony near the Route 34 highway, where the construction work is set to begin in the coming months.

The plan includes erecting a tall wall along 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) of the highway that runs between the city of Sderot and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, north of the Gaza Strip, as well as some parts of Route 232, which runs along the whole border.

A statement from the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday said cycling lanes would also be built along the wall.

The construction work is set to be completed in the summer, the IDF said.

The estimated cost of the project was unclear, but in 2019 a similar plan that had apparently been delayed was reported to have a budget of NIS 100 million ($28 million).

In 2019, Moshe Feder, 68, was killed when a Kornet anti-tank guided missile slammed into his car as he was driving on Route 34. The Hamas terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The IDF later said it had failed to recognize the risks posed to Israeli drivers on the road, north of the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Guys: ROCKET LAUNCHED From Gaza Fell Inside the Gaza Strip
Gaza tried to launch a rocket at Israel last night, but the missile fell far short of its target, landing inside of the Gaza Strip. Were they trying to start a war?

Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked international outrage this week with dozens of countries condemning him for his actions. His crime? He ascended the Temple Mount on Tuesday.

The UN passed more resolutions against Israel in 2022 than all the other countries of the world combined.


Palestinian Gunman Killed in Clashes With Israeli Forces Near Nablus
A Palestinian gunman was killed during clashes with Israeli troops near Nablus early Thursday, Israeli security and Palestinian sources confirmed to i24NEWS.

The gunman was identified by the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry as Amer Abu Zayton, 16, who was shot in the head during the exchange of fire at the Balata refugee camp.

Social media images Zayton had posted show the teen brandishing assault weapons.

The Lions’ Den terrorist group based in the West Bank issued a statement claiming to have opened fire at Israeli troops.

Israel’s Border Police issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that “a gunman, who opened fire at the troops at short range, was neutralized” after raids were conducted in the Balata camp. The incident occurred when undercover forces from the Border Police, Shin Bet internal security service and Israel Defense Forces came under “massive fire from armed terrorists.” The Israeli forces were leaving the area after raiding the homes of two wanted terrorism suspects and arresting them.

Israel is continuing into the new year Operation “Break the Wave,” a long-term counter-terrorism operation that was initiated in response to a series of deadly terrorist attacks against Israelis perpetrated in early 2022. During the nightly raids on Palestinian terrorism targets, troops have at times come under fire from Palestinian militants.


Jewish extremists appear to vandalize Christian graves in Old City
A pair of what appeared to be Jews were captured on camera vandalizing dozens of Christian graves in Jerusalem’s historic Old City on Jan. 1, drawing condemnation from church officials and the United Kingdom.

The video shows the vandals making a beeline for a large masonry cross inside the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery, which was established in 1848 and is managed by an organization affiliated with the Anglican Church. After toppling the cross, the vandals, who appear to be young men and can be seen wearing kippahs and tzitzit typically worn by haredi Orthodox Jews, moved on to damage other tombstones.

Coming just days after the swearing-in of a new right-wing government whose critics say could embolden Jewish extremists, the vandalism extends a pattern of attacks on Christian sites in Israel. Vandals have targeted other cemeteries as well as churches and monasteries several times over the last decade. The church and the United Kingdom condemned the incident; the Israeli police have said it will investigate.

Church leaders in the country have long maintained that Israeli settlers and other Jewish extremist groups are trying to drive them out of the Old City, which the Israeli far right believes should exclusively be under Jewish control. They say some extremist Jewish groups have spat on Christians as well. Many Christians in the Jerusalem area are Palestinian, although the people buried in the cemetery include British Christians who were influential in pre-state Palestine.
95 Percent of Cars Stolen in Israel End Up in Palestinian Authority
Car thefts have doubled in Israel over the past year, according to data from insurance companies. In December 2022 alone, between 1,200 and 1,300 cars were stolen.

A senior insurance company executive said the increase in thefts originates from the demand for new vehicles or spare parts in the Palestinian Authority.

"This is a kind of economic intifada. 95% reach the Palestinian Authority. It is an organized industry in which everything is ordered in advance."

"The newer vehicles are usually stolen for personal use in the Palestinian Authority areas, while older vehicles are stolen for spare parts that have been ordered in advance."
Gaza claims Israel not allowing in X-ray machines for medical care
Gaza's Health Ministry accused Israel on Thursday of delaying the entry of several X-ray machines needed to treat patients in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

The ministry, run by the Gaza Strip's ruling terrorist group Hamas, said requests in the past 14 months for eight different types of X-ray machines and spare parts to repair existing equipment had been rejected or delayed.

Dozens of other X-ray machines were allowed into the impoverished Strip during the same period.

Israel, which together with Egypt maintains a blockade around Gaza citing security concerns, says it is worried about militant groups commandeering such machines for military purposes.

Palestinian Health Ministry director Medhat Abbas said the equipment was funded by international relief and medical institutions on behalf of hospitals in Gaza. "Holding back the entry of that equipment caused a delay in providing medical services to thousands of patients," Abbas told Reuters.

Conflicting accounts
Responding to his remarks, Israel's military-run Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) accused Hamas and other militant groups of "systematically and cynically taking advantage of humanitarian and civilian shipments of equipment and goods for terrorist purposes."

Requests for such equipment, COGAT told Reuters, are examined on a case-by-case basis.
PMW: Fatah promises more terror in 2023: “All types of resistance remain open to our people”
“Fatah adheres to the path of comprehensive popular resistance and all the legal options of struggle. It salutes the heroes of the popular resistance at all the points of resolve and confrontation with the Zionist tools of violence and killing, and strives together with the Palestinian struggle forces to escalate, organize, develop, and expand [the resistance] against all the occupation’s aggressive plots, with all types of resistance remaining open to our people”

“Armed resistance” is “only solution” to “expel the occupation” says Fatah official

Fatah official calls for more terror: “We need… to strike in the Zionist depth”

The Fatah Revolutionary Council:

“Our resistance [is] an obligatory national duty for everyone, and… a necessary choice from which there is no return. Fatah will increase its participation in the popular resistance in all areas. It also calls to escalate this resistance with all legitimate means that are anchored for us in international law…

The Fatah Revolutionary Council emphasizes our determination to resist the occupation and the settler colonialism, regardless of how great the sacrifices may be.”

While many erroneously believe that Palestinian terror only resulted from the Israeli control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem in 1967, in reality, Fatah is celebrating the 58th anniversary of its first terror attack in 1965


Palestinian Authority TV: All Palestinian Factions Should Focus on Escalating Conflict With Israel
Palestinian TV host Sara Rayyan said in a December 30, 2022 show on Al-Awda TV (Palestinian Authority) that all the armed Palestinian factions should abandon any disputes they have with one another and focus their efforts on escalating the armed conflict against the “Zionist enemy.” She said that they should follow the example of Dalal Mughrabi, a female terrorist who participated in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre in which 39 Israelis, including 13 children, were killed.




Lebanon court charges 7 for attack that killed an Irish UN soldier
Lebanon’s military court charged seven people on Thursday for an attack last month that killed an Irish soldier serving in a UN peacekeeping force.

On Dec. 15, a vehicle carrying troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was fired upon while traveling in southern Lebanon.

The Irish Times said two armored vehicles carrying eight Irish military personnel came under attack as they drove from their base to the capital of Beirut.

Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed in the incident, which was Lebanon’s first fatal attack on UN soldiers since 2015.

One suspect, a supporter of Hezbollah, was seized by the Lebanese military in late December. A court source claimed that murder charges have been filed against him.

The remaining six defendants face accusations ranging from attempted murder to vehicle damage. None are detained.

Hezbollah has denied any blame, calling the killing an “unintentional incident.”

On Dec. 16, Ireland’s then-Foreign and Defense Minister Simon Coveney said that he did not accept the Iranian-backed terror group’s claim that it had no involvement.


Iran's Ruling Elite Do Not Resemble Average Iranians
Iran has undergone dramatic changes since the Khomeinist sect seized power 43 years ago. In 1977, on the eve of the revolution, there were 35,000 Iranians living abroad. That number today is around 8 million. In the decade that preceded the revolution, Iran experienced an annual economic growth rate averaging 7%. In the past decade, the rate has been almost zero.

With over 150,000 highly-educated Iranians choosing exile each year, Iran is number one in the brain drain league, according to the International Monetary Fund. It is also number one, relative to population, in the number of executions each year. Iran also claims top spots in the number of political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and foreign hostages.

The ruling elite consist largely of a network of 200 families with clerical, military-security and bazaar backgrounds. The ruling elite is less educated than the average urban Iranian. A study by a Tehran University professor claims that the average IQ of the ruling elite is lower than that of average Iranians. Iranians are keenly aware of the fact that their ruling elite do not resemble them.
Iran Building Drone Aircraft Carrier from Converted Merchant Ship, Photos Show
In a dry dock near the entrance to the Persian Gulf, Iran’s sectarian naval force is converting a former merchant container ship into a drone aircraft carrier, according to satellite and open source photos published last week by USNI News contributor H I Sutton.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy ship Shahid Mahdavi is a former Iranian-flagged container ship that is getting converted into a warship to carry both helicopter and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles at the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co (ISOICO) at Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz, according to November photos Sutton published on Monday.

Shahid Mahdavi has been in the dry dock since at least May undergoing the conversion from a merchant vessel to a warship, reported The Maritime Executive.

The new photos show the deck of the merchant ship removed ahead of the installation of a surface to launch aircraft.

“The conversion adds a large cantilever flight deck on the port side. It is currently unclear whether an overhang will be added to the starboard side also,” wrote Sutton.

“The fact that the superstructure spans the original deck means that a traditional aircraft carrier layout is not possible. The angles on the added flight deck are also not traditional. Possibly this hints at a flight deck running across from port to starboard ahead of the superstructure.” (h/t MtTB)
Iran Summons French Envoy Over ‘Insulting’ Cartoons
Iran summoned France’s envoy in Tehran on Wednesday to protest against “insulting” cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian state media reported.

The French weekly had published dozens of cartoons about Khamenei, which it said were part of a competition it launched last month to support anti-government protests in Iran sparked by the death of a young woman in September while in the custody of morality police.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran does not accept insulting its Islamic, religious, and national sanctities and values in any way,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told the French envoy on Wednesday, according to state TV.

The French Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facing their worst legitimacy crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran‘s religious leaders have accused its foreign foes of orchestrating the anti-government mass protests to destabilise the country.


Iran reveals death of Qasem Soleimani was major blow to anti-Israel forces
Iran’s pro-government media, especially those linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have been pushing headlines about Qasem Soleimani, the former head of the Quds Force who was killed by a US drone in January 2020. According to one outlet, it was a “big blow” to Palestinian terror groups.

The anniversary of his death has prompted a lot of content about him, providing a glimpse into how Iran and its allies in the region view the loss of this key commander. It appears his killing has left and continues to leave a large hole in Iran’s ability to empower its allies and its proxies in the Middle East.

Soleimani's death was a major blow to Iran
Soleimani’s death was a major blow to Iran, even though the regime has tried to pretend that it can continue its operations like before. Soleimani, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, were both killed in the strike. Other key figures in the Iran nexus have also been killed over the years, such as Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in 2008.

Now, Iran’s Tasnim media revealed in an interview published Wednesday that the death of Soleimani was a “big blow” to Palestinian terror groups. The interview was conducted with Khaled al-Batsh, whom they mistakenly labeled a member of Hamas; he is a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

He told the outlet that the killing of Soleimani was “very heavy and huge for us and for the Palestinians because this action meant the declaration of war by America and the corrupt Donald Trump.” Batsh is quoted as saying that while Soleimani frequently spoke about the fact that he could be “martyred,” the killing was nevertheless “a big blow for us because he is the main supporter and defender and the closest and most knowledgeable person to the nature of the battle with the enemy.”

According to the report, the IRGC Quds Force helped Islamic Jihad target Tel Aviv with missiles. Batsh credits the Iranian Fajr missile with aiding the Palestinians in increasing their abilities to threaten Israel.


Senior Member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Killed in Tehran – Report
A senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in Tehran, state media reported on Wednesday.

Qassam Fathollahi was shot “four times in front of his house” in southern Tehran on Tuesday evening, according to the IRNA news agency. Police discovered “signs of theft from the apartments around the scene” of the shooting, the report added.

Earlier on Saturday, state media said that another member of the IRGC’s paramilitary force was shot dead by “armed criminals.” The incident happened during the ongoing protests that have swept Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in September by morality police for allegedly violating the dress code.

Iranian leadership have repeatedly accused foreign states and opposition for “staging the riots.” Human rights groups said that nearly 500 people have been killed in the nationwide protests, including members of the security forces. Thousands of demonstrators were arrested with at least 100 of them now facing death sentences, according to rights groups.




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